Is Jeff Flake a Wuss for Voting Against Expanded Background Checks?

Republican Senator Jeff Flake helped defeat amendment that called for an expansion of the federal background-check system for gun sales.

Senator John McCain supported the amendment, as did two women who reportedly ended up being escorted out of the Senate -- Patricia Maisch, who grabbed a gun magazine from Jared Loughner as he tried to reload during his Tucson shooting rampage, and Lori Haas, whose daughter was shot during the Virginia Tech shooting.

"Shame on you!" Maisch yelled after the Senate voted down the amendment, which called for expanding the requirements for background check in what's really not that controversial of language (check it out under "SA 715").

"Senator Flake?" Maisch said, after a reporter asked for her opinion on his "no" vote. "I'm embarrassed. He's a flaky flake."

Flake's explanation of his vote was posted on his Facebook page, and it hardly sounded like an important reason to vote down the amendment.

"Manchin-Toomey (the amendment) would expand background checks far beyond commercial sales to include almost all private transfers - including between friends and neighbors - if the posting or display of the ad for a firearm was made public," he wrote. "It would likely even extend to message boards, like the one in an office kitchen. This simply goes too far."